George brent at the men’s barracks in Auschwitz in a scene from ‘Don’t Forget Me,’ one of the films showing at the virtual reality exhibition ‘The Journey Back’ at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Chicago. In his film “Don’t Forget Me,” Brent takes viewers on a journey back to Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and Ebensee concentration camps. Likewise, Brent, 93, didn’t hesitate when asked if he would tell his story. It was the thing that drove her and she was able to go knowing she gave everything she could.”
“Of course she could stop at any point, but she kept going because this was her life’s work. “It wasn’t her first time back, but it was still really challenging for her,” said grandson Scott Fritzshall. It meant doing nearly 30 hours of interviews, including a trip back to Auschwitz-Birkenau to film on location. (Courtesy) Precious recordsĪlthough Fritzshall spent decades telling her story in schools and synagogues, filming “A Promise Kept” was an emotionally draining experience. The age was later lowered to children under 14.įritzie Fritzshall at the women’s barracks in Auschwitz in a scene from ‘A Promise Kept,’ one of the films showing at the virtual reality exhibition ‘The Journey Back’ at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Chicago. At the time, children under 16 were immediately murdered, as were mothers with young children and the elderly. Moments after stepping from the overcrowded cattle car onto the unloading ramp in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Fritzshall was separated from her mother and two brothers, who were immediately sent to the gas chambers.įritzshall survived the initial selection partly because she lied about her age. In 1944 the Gestapo arrested Fritzshall, her mother and two brothers at gunpoint, and deported them to Auschwitz. Her father immigrated to Chicago and worked for the Vienna Sausage Company - but by the time Herman had the means to send for his family, the war had started. “Even though she didn’t live to see the final film, a huge weight lifted from her knowing it was made and that it will be exhibited.” Escaping death’s clutchesįritzshall was born to Herman and Sara Weiss in 1929 in Klyucharky - which was part of Czechoslovakia when Fritzshall was born, placed under Hungarian control in 1938, and is part of present-day Ukraine. The end.’ She worried that Auschwitz, a hallowed cemetery for so many, her family included, would not be preserved,” said Abrams. “One of Fritzie’s greatest fears, and also of many survivors, is that their story will be relegated to a sentence in a history book: ‘They killed the Jews.
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